Six Takeaways From D.C.’s #Trillectro Music Festival

This past weekend, the second annual Trillectro Music Festival took place at the Half Street Fairgrounds in our nation’s capital. The Crew’s very own Greg Whitt and Tinsley attended the event and decided to report back with a handful of observations the two had from the all-day concert/slash happy hour.

Before jumping into their findings, The Smoking Section first wants to show some respect to everyone who came out and had a great time. It wasn’t our event, but the DC to BC conglomerate are friends of the family and it was awesome to see the overwhelming support being extended. From our vantage point, everyone had a great time dancing, drinking, smoking, networking and having mini-college reunions at a concert moonlighting as a day party. And shout out to Lowkey and the lovely Ashley Outrageous taking over hosting duties. Their respective grinds are testaments to the doors that open when mixing together work ethics and magnetic personalities. Low’s LeBron X’s were dope, too.

With those particulars out of the way, however, let’s get down to business.

Photos: Twitter, Instagram

1. “TURN UP!”

This phrase was uttered almost non-stop all day. Between the hosts on both stages, the acts, and their respective hypemen, “turn up” became less a phrase and more a unit of time. I found myself wondering how many turn ups before the next act went on. Still, the sentiment was appropriate. There was a palpable electricity in the crowd fueled by good music, an ample supply of intoxicants, and youthful exuberance.

2. The Fashion

40 oz. Van’s snapbacks topped off the outfits of what seemed like half the reported 15,000 Trillectro attendees. The ambitious New Yorker’s hustle is unknockable, and was on full display couple hundred miles down I-95 in D.C. Also ubiquitous were bucket caps from D.C. streetwear pioneer Madness. Even Wale donned one as he made his surprise appearance. The juxtaposition of New New York and Classic DC was evident in the fashion and overall vibe of the massive event.

3. The Women

Tall. Short. Natural hair. Weaves. Scantily clad. Eclectic. Professional. Young. Old. Beautiful. Thousands of women filled the Half Street Fairgrounds. Charismatic front woman Misun Wojcik drew attention to the stage during her eponymous band’s set, and a pair of writhing dancers garnered stares as bass rattled from the speakers. But the ladies in the crowd were as captivating as any of the performers.

Truth be told, the line to get in was crazy and something even Modi himself admitted must change as Trillectro grows in popularity and population. On the flip side, getting there at 6 p.m. and complaining about an entry process when the concert has been taking place since noon is a personal scheduling issue. Now, for a person getting off work around that time and wanting to check out the festivities, this doesn’t apply to them. To those who weren’t and simply wanted to make an entrance, check that cool at the Navy Yard metro station right outside.

5. The Actual Music

All these slides and we’ve yet to talk about the main reason we were all there in the first place – the artists. The cool thing about the event being all is that you’re able to actually chop it up with artists who perform earlier on. They may not have the name value as say a Wale or A$AP Ferg, but they’re more than willing to speak to whoever steps to them. Shy Glizzy stayed hours after his set ended taking in the other acts and chopping it up with fans.

It’s also great to take demos because they’re passed around like communion offerings. Ninety-percent are likely forgettable, but there’s always the chance there’s that one diamond in the rough. That’s how we discovered who Grande Marshall was last year.

Also, while he wasn’t there, at times it felt as if a Future concert was taking place. Between acts, whenever the DJ would spin any song with Future, the crowd literally went batshit crazy. These were backpackers, goons, white, black, Asian, it didn’t matter. Everyone was drunk, getting high and rapping “Chosen One” or “Same Damn Time” at the top of their lungs. In Greg’s words just watching the reactions of people, “Don’t talk to me about how Slim’s music is horrible if you can’t appreciate seeing it in a setting like this.” And speaking of crowd reactions, A$AP Ferg’s “Work” and “Shabba” may have edged out Wale’s “Clappers To The Front” for loudest moment of the evening.

That’s the hierarchy of powerful Black men in The District these days. But seriously though, he’ll never admit this because he’s that much of a humble guy and the team he’s apart of truly put in an obscene amount of work, but Modi truly is most important tastemakers/cultural influencers/whatever they’re called these days that D.C. has to offer.

Bonus: Yep, while he wasn’t actually at Trillectro to our knowledge, the Vine Gawd, Terio, was in D.C. God only knows what would’ve happened had he graced the stage. It would’ve been the biggest rockstar-like moment in D.C. since the Obamas Diddy-bopped down Pennsylvania Avenue following the 2009 inauguration.

In all seriousness, there might be no kid in America more anxious to return to school than Young Terio. He’s not even having fun with the attention anymore. His reaction – or lack thereof – from a now-deleted Vine recorded in a hotel hallway while doing his routine spoke volumes. Someone on Twitter said the look in lil’ man’s eyes resembled that of a circus bear forced to ride a unicycle night-in and night-out and that it was Terio’s Unsung, which is 150% accurate. While the original videos were funny, the act has run its course and you get the feeling no one wants this trend to die more than Terio himself.

#5- Please don’t try to justify the long line with “Personal Scheduling Issues.” Maybe the organizers shouldn’t have over sold the event. It doesnt matter if someone came at 8:00, if you bought your ticket, you should be able to get in. Some people even arrived at 3:00 and had to wait in line for 3 hours.

This festival is great for so many reasons. I just hope there is a larger, metro accessible, open air space in DC that can hold the crowd without having to deal with neighbor complaints, which is the unique thing about the Half Street fairgrounds.